Chibi Elves
by Fey Halfkin
Summary: [on going] My love of anime and EQ has lead to this funny combination. How I got my chibi-pets that mimic EQ elves.


I stumbled upon my obsession when I was young. And let me tell you, it wasn't amused at almost getting squashed. It glared and growled at me before the small form darted off into some shrub by the library. My eyes blinked owlishly and my hands gathering the few books as I continued staring where the blur had disappeared. The brown, big eyes reprimanding me beneath a tussle of black hair and the canine ears as it turned to run away.  
  
Let me fast forward a few months later, when the trouble really began. After searching for whatever the thing I'd almost killed was, I had to find me one. It took time but I finally found this niche-in-the-wall place that specialized in the little critters. The Den-Hide raised and sold the one-foot chibi-s, with expert help and advice, not to mention enjoyed potential customers just looking around. The inside was divided into five large rooms: first room was close to a daycare, where baby pens kept a section clear for those who entered; the second was the napping nooks. Those were the only two I came to constantly hang around. The kitchen, inbuilt vet area, and staff room I didn't see, but there was more then enough to enjoy.  
  
A chibi is a person-animal hybrid. Their big eyes take up half of their head, and small bodies with each having their own distinctive actions and sounds. They were always filling the front room with giggles and tumultuous squawks, growls, yelps and purring. There was rarely more then a pause of silence. That's what the nappy nooks in the side room were for. So cute.  
  
If I could ever draw or take pictures of some of the adorable things I saw, I'd die happy. For instance: there was a rock-chibi (which is its species name) that couldn't make up its mind who it wanted to sleep with. Not that way! Gawd, you've got a dirty mind. no I was taking about the cuddling type. The rock-chibi would be getting tired, with yawns and half- closed eyes, and get herded toward the napping nook. It preferred the nook about three feet off the ground in an enlarged cat post. However, it couldn't sleep by itself. So it would get this kind of distressed, searching look until it found either a wildstar-chibi or a dreamberry- chibi. This rock-chibi would twist into unnatural positions to snuggle against them no matter if they'd chosen a one chibi sleeping space.  
  
Of course, I had to fall in love with one of the few chibi-s that doesn't commonly like any non-chibi. It would get this 'throwing dagger glare' look and instantly finding a defensive spot whenever one of us got more then ten feet from it. Why I love this runty dirk-chibi is beyond me. Sometimes I could picture this chibi with a thought bubble, like in a comic, thinking 'wait for it..wait for it to go away and then rip their throat out.'  
  
It had been abandoned before being brought to the Den-Hide. I tended to think of it as girl chibi, but one is never entirely sure with them. Just two weeks after I started helping around this wolfstrider-chibi gave birth to a small litter (cute doggy-eared chibi-ites) when we'd been sure it was a guy. There's just no way to determine their gender.  
  
But to get to the stupidest thing I've ever done at the time.... I adopted the dirk-chibi.  
  
Not that I ever stopped looking for the chibi I'd almost squash at the library some months ago, but the glaring, anti-social critter tugged my heart. Wish the same thing had occurred to Daisy. Oh, didn't I mention? I named my dirk-chibi Daisy.  
  
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Imagine this: a homicidal pet that can't quite reach your knees, but is plainly planning on getting you down to her size. With a 'mysterious' force that shreds what little homework I bring back anymore. Or the various deaths to schoolbooks suffered suddenly. At random times I'd trip and tumble because some low level furniture moved just around the corner of the hall. Don't ask about the VCR, the refrigerator, the dryer or the new clock. It just isn't worth the time.  
  
Naming it Daisy was the perfect revenge.  
  
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It didn't take me long to realize in hindsight that I needed to find Daisy company. Something else to torment and plan ambushes on. And given that it didn't like anything that wasn't a chibi I obviously needed a calmer, sturdy chibi companion. So I brought it back to the Den-Hide to ask for help.  
  
Daisy protested the chibi harness I saddled it with, but seemed to forget all about it when I let it join the other chibi-s in the front room. Couldn't have my bat winged-killer sold, now could I?  
  
I was determined that I'd not buy another chibi from the Hunter bloodline: they all seemed independent, and all sported little bat wings. Daisy was enough to handle as it was. While I'd had my eye halfway on that cute rock-chibi (sold quickly I'm told) it was about an hour after reading the dirk-chibi care book that I looked up and saw IT. Remember that critter nearly squashed at the library? One of the staff members was carrying it to the front room with a gentle coaxing tone to make it let go of her arms.  
  
Another abandoned chibi. The green armband indicated some sort of injury being observed, which might explain why it didn't want to play. But it was so cute now that I could see it. Like the lonewolf-chibi and wolfstrider-chibi, it too had small canine ears for its animal feature. (Daisy is just a bat out of hell, let me tell you) Maybe the first one I'd seen had been dirty, but this one had dark brown hair, not black. And eyes more amber then gold. I just watched the poor thing tremble and whine a protest from where I sat.  
  
A beechnut-chibi sort of perked up at the distress noise. You could see its canine ears twitch up and forward, and went over to poke the chibi, who stared up in complete surprise. Sure enough it wasn't long before the new chibi was mingling with the others. Even Daisy wandered over to chatter and squeak at it. I wish I'd had a camera, video..something, when Daisy got all 'I-am-the-boss' look and only got an amused look in return.  
  
Don't think I made the same mistake I'd done with Daisy. This time I researched and watched the chibi for two weeks, and pestered the staff about the halfkin-chibi, before even daring to consider buying it. The good news was it was social with chibi-s and humans alike. Apparently they mate for life and tend to 'adopt' strays. One girl told me an adorable tale of how her halfkin-chibi used to bring home neighborhood dogs. And I thought, 'I can live with that!'  
  
So I brought him home.  
  
Don't think that was the end of my problems: they doubled. Daisy did settle down a little, and the destruction in my house slowly ebbed, but Wolf seemed to withdraw a little.  
  
That's it. I'm not buying another chibi until I get this right! And I kept that promise too, believe it or not. I taught them house rules; took them places; and traveled to chibi conventions with them. It was nice. And I grew a guilty pleasure in presenting Daisy to others, who were amazed the hostile chibi-type let me hold and play with it. It preferred ridding my shoulders (for view, messing my hair up, and easy launch on some who got to close) and was often tangled in my long hair. While Wolf stayed by my feet as much as it could.  
  
This lasted about 19 months before Wolf brought me a surprise. Turns out both of my chibi-s had surprises. Since the two wanted outside all the time when I wasn't home, I wonder why I didn't see it coming. Once I might have worried about a big dog eating them, but these two would probably rip their throat out, so I rarely worried. Now let me tell you how Wolf's surprise happened.  
  
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I had invited some school friends over for a casual celebration of our finals. Both chibi-s had inspected them when they arrived before promptly getting bored and wandering off. Hours passed, and I admit that neither crossed my mind more then a moment. So I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the familiar flash of movement through the goofing dancers in our front room. With the randy music and happy noise it was understandable if they didn't hear me shout a warning to stop. And while I was mentally cursing their clumsy feet and foolhardy moves, I eagerly scooped my nearly trampled Wolf as soon as I could.  
  
"Wolf," I scolded angrily, who didn't seem to notice how close to injury it'd come. And it just growled urgently with only a trace of showing its throat to appease me. I ended up following the driven chibi to the neighbor's backyard after a hasty 'be right back' to my friends. Two of them were fellow chibi-owners, who waved their understanding before taking over the party.  
  
Fearing Daisy had gotten hurt (with that recklessness, who wouldn't?), I urged Wolf to a flat out run to where ever. It smiled broadly. I must have thought it was because Wolf adored running. But I came to a stop when it did by the neighbor's birdfeeder. Wolf motioned me to be quiet and still. Nervously I obeyed, but you could bet I was going to get the story later.  
  
Wolf barked at one of the trees next to the feeder. Yapped and barked again. Then a chirp answered and I was privileged to see a bird-winged chibi appear. It glided to Wolf on the ground where the two.I'll say nuzzled for lack of anything. The new chibi was blue-eyed and defiantly from the bird bloodline, and didn't seemed unduly alarmed at me being there.  
  
Questions stuck in my throat as I just watched, open-mouthed in surprise, as Wolf introduced us. Well, kind of. Wolf barked and happily dragged the chibi towards me, where he barked some more and got a coo/chirp back as the chibi looked at me.  
  
I later learned the chibi was a snowbird-chibi, and appeared to be Wolf's mate. Not that I'm sure which is female, but I'm hoping it's the snowbird-chibi. I named her Bird and often had to visit her to find my Wolf after that evening. Got two pictures you'd die to see: the first is them sleeping on a knee-high branch of the evergreen, with her white wings blanketing the cuddling two and Wolf's canine ears twitch lazily as a breeze made a feather brush its edge; the second is Daisy holding a small water balloon over the same sleeping pair.  
  
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Thankfully I found a suitable nesting area for Bird in my yard. (The poor neighbors didn't need to be chased by a growling chibi for disturbing the mated chibi-s) Wolf grew wilder and rarely came indoors unless dragged. The two didn't mind going places thought. In fact I soon found that Bird, although calmer then it's mate, truly enjoyed being around other people.  
  
Daisy had her own surprise.. But that's another story  
  
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Hope you enjoyed my first chibi article for your journal, Mrs. English. I'll send the second part for your next bi-weekly posting this weekend. And yes, I'll bring the little ones over at the yearly gathering once I find some supplies. Daisy and Zen are still driving each other crazy, and Inu is shadowing Wolf.  
  
We'll see everyone there.  
  
  
  
Two months later I continued my summer with my chibi-s on a local CHIBI FAIR circuit. That is, two months after my first article and I 'adopted' Bird. It had taken only a week and a half to convince the snowbird-chibi to accept a collar, unlike Wolf who kept taking it off. Although, calling it a collar isn't exactly right. All it is, is a small barcode the size of a pinky finger on a belt.  
  
Now I have mentioned that halfkin-chibis tend to adopt strays? Let me introduce the first one.  
  
Every late morning I get up, and in a haze, feed myself brunch (breakfast/lunch) as my two chibi-s did whatever they did. They knew I wasn't awake until I'd eaten my sandwich and sipped coffee from a hot cup. So after I joined the living I'd call out the all-clear to the usually empty room. Both Daisy and the mated chibi-s had excellent hearing. Then Daisy would do the skulk/crawl to the table. She used it as a runway to launch at the refrigerator door handle. We've learned this means Daisy wants meat food, like the hotdogs I stock up on.  
  
Occasionally the bat-winged chibi seems to be part fruit bat, because my apples keep disappearing. But I digress.  
  
While I'm grumbling over moving from a comfy seat at least one of the others trails in. Lately Bird chirped for their plate, which was dragged to wherever the other was. I'd groom Bird's hair as it sat down to nibble on the Raisin Bran cereal as the bacon stripe was nuked in the microwave, and while Daisy bolted her food and dashed off. How they all maintain such trim bodies with all the eating they do.  
  
Bird was more restless that day. In fact, getting the chibi to hold still was a chore as it waited impatiently for the bacon to finish. Then a napkin was folded so the bird-winged chibi could speed fly the corner of the room and away. I sighed at the emptiness of the room.  
  
"Daisy," I coaxed a call. 


End file.
